When coating a surface of a plate-shaped substrate, such as a glass substrate, with a coating liquid, use is made of a substrate coating device configured to scan a slit nozzle relative to the surface of the substrate in a predetermined scanning direction perpendicular to the slit with a spacing kept between the slit nozzle and the surface of the substrate.
In improving the productivity of large-sized substrates, an arrangement is conceivable which is configured to convey a plurality of substrates sequentially to a coating position at which a nozzle is disposed by means of a conveyor and then convey each of the substrates having been subjected to coating to the next processing position.
In order to coat the surface of the substrate with a desired thickness of the coating liquid uniformly, the spacing between the tip of the nozzle and the surface of the substrate needs to be kept constant. For this purpose, a precision stage having a smooth top surface is disposed at the coating position. A substrate placed on the precision stage is subjected to coating with the coating liquid delivered from the nozzle.
Among conventional substrate coating devices, there is one which has an arrangement in which a rail for moving a slit nozzle is disposed at a coating position at which is disposed a precision stage called a “placement stage” in such a manner as to extend perpendicular to the substrate conveying direction without the possibility of interference with substrates (see patent literature 1 for example).
In the arrangement described in patent literature 1, the slit nozzle is disposed in such a manner that its longitudinal direction extends parallel with the substrate conveying direction, so that the slit nozzle moves along the rail in the direction perpendicular to the substrate conveying direction, relative to a substrate having been conveyed onto the precision stage.